And hundreds, maybe even thousands, of featured soloists have bobbled it or
failed to hit the high-G.

“It” is the “Star-Spangled Banner.”

However, according to a recent Harris Poll, about two-thirds of Americans
don’t know all of the words or even the origin of the song that became the
National Anthem in 1931. Congress made that decision 117 years after Francis
Scott Key wrote new words for “To Anacreon in Heaven,” written in the late
eighteenth century, and which was probably an English drinking song.

The National Anthem Project is a multi-year project to try to make sure that
all Americans learn the words and the historical origin of the song. It is
sponsored by National Association for Music Education (known as MENC), with
financial assistance from Chrysler/Jeep. Among dozens of organizations that
have signed onto the project are the America Legion, the Girl Scouts, the
National Endowment for the Arts, the National Association of School
Psychologists, the National Lumber and Building Materials Dealers
Association, and the Walt Disney Co. Honorary chair is Laura Bush, herself
backed by the House of Representatives and the White House Commission on
Remembrance.

The campaign began on Capitol Hill with singers from a high school in South
Carolina and an elementary school in Washington, D.C. More than six million
children and teachers participated throughout the country in a concert
carried by PBS and the Armed Forces Network. During the next few years, the
campaign will include “education initiatives in schools, special
performances and alliances with professional sporting events, and an
extensive mobile marketing tour,” according to the Association.

Buried within the promotion, almost insignificant in the national PR spin,
is a reality of what spurred the national campaign. “Recent budget cuts to
school music programs have silenced our nation, cutting off students from
access to learning about our country’s historical traditions,” said John
Mahlmann, MENC executive director.

Because of cuts in arts funding, with increased budgets for sports and
several other programs, about 28 million students are not receiving an
adequate music education, according to a U. S. Department of Education study
in 2000. One-fourth of all principals reported there was a decreased time
spent on the arts in their schools, and one-third of all principals say
there will be continued decreases in the arts, according to a study
published last year by the Council for Basic Education. Ironically, the
decrease in music and the arts in schools might even be greater if not for
sports—marching bands complement the football program; “rally bands,”
combos, and jazz bands complement basketball.

Nevertheless, fewer than half of all students receive music education at
least three times a week, says Michael Blakeslee, MENC deputy executive
director. Only about 40 percent of all public secondary schools require
students to take even one credit in the arts to graduate, according to the
latest figures from the Department of Education’s Arts in the Schools
survey—and that was conducted a decade ago. The requirements, undoubtedly,
have decreased since then.

Part of the problem, says Blakeslee, is implementation of the No Child Left
Behind Act, which emphasizes basic skills. Rod Paige, former Department of
Education secretary, says the program was never intended to reduce arts
activities in schools, a claim Blakeslee agrees with. However,
“interpretation and implementation of the Act by school districts has led to
a significant erosion of music education, especially in the middle school,”
says Blakeslee. The extra time spent to meet the Act’s criteria has reduced
time spent in the arts. ”If improving basic skills “doesn’t work in how
they’re being taught in 30 minutes,” asks Blakeslee, “why will they work at
90 minutes?” The increase in minutes in other areas at the expense of the
arts is nothing less than “political expediency,” says Blakeslee.

Although the way schools implement the No Child Left Behind Act may be a
problem, American cultural values may be more of a problem. Extensive
anecdotal evidence at all levels of education suggests that parents,
guidance counselors, and others who have influence upon children and the
educational system often encourage their children to “take classes that’ll
get you a job,” while discouraging them from going into the arts.
Mistakenly, they believe the arts, while “nice,” may be frivolous in job
placement opportunities.

Another problem is the Observational Society. Our children watch a limited
range of music videos, listen to CDs their peers approve, and attend shrill
overpriced concerts. TV and the movies have become not only ways for them to
tolerate boredom, but have become the nation’s babysitters. Like sports
crowds, our children have become observers not participants. Like the
previous MTV generation, they have become so accustomed to being entertained
they have failed to become participants, whether in sports, cultural and
arts activities, recreation—or in becoming involved in social justice or the
political system.

Learning the words to the “Star Spangled Banner” is good. Participating in
understanding the history of the music, and being able to sing it in groups
is good. It plays to the patriotic urges of the nation. (Perhaps a future
project could acquaint the people with the Constitution and civil liberties,
something that seems to be missing in our collective education.)
Nevertheless, if at the end of the music project, our children haven’t
become participants in society, haven’t seen the necessity for the
arts—whether dance, visual arts, music, theatre, or writing as just as
important to society as plumbers, electricians, lawyers, and business
executives—then all that would have happened is that Americans have learned
words to a song and have gotten a warm, fuzzy feeling for the country, while
still being ignorant our of heritage and still sitting on the sidelines of
life.